Coupe

Coupe (pronounced koop or koo-pey (the latter used even if spelled without the “é”)).

(1) A closed, two-door car, sometimes on a shorter wheelbase than the four-door version on which they’re based.

(2) A four-door car with a lower or more elongated, sloping roofline than the model on which it’s based.

(3) An ice cream or sherbet mixed or topped with fruit, liqueur, whipped cream etc.

(4) A glass container for serving such a dessert, usually having a stem and a wide, deep bowl (similar in shape but usually larger than a champagne coupe).

(5) As champagne coupe, a shallow, broad-bowled saucer shaped stemmed glass also often used for cocktails because of their greater stability than many a cocktail glasses.

(6) A short, four-wheeled, horse-drawn, closed carriage, usually with a single seat for two passengers and an outside seat for the driver.

(7) The end compartment in a European diligence or railroad car with seats on one side only.

(8) In commercial logging, an area of a forest or plantation where harvesting of wood is planned or has taken place.

(9) In military use, as coupe gorge (a borrowing from French (literally “cut-throat”), any position affording such advantage to an attacking formation that the troops occupying it must either surrender or be “cut to pieces”.

(10) In various sports, a cup awarded as a prize.

(11) A hairstyle (always pronounced coop) which typically features shorter sides and back with longer hair on top.

1825–1835: From the French coupé (low, short, four-wheeled, close carriage without the front seat, carrying two inside, with an outside seat for the driver (also “front compartment of a stage coach”)), a shortened form of carrosse coupé (a cut-off or shortened version of the Berlin (from Berliner) coach, modified to remove the back seat), the past participle of couper (to cut off; to cut in half), the verbal derivative of coup (blow; stroke); a doublet of cup, hive and keeve, thus the link with goblets, cups & glasses.  It was first applied to two-door automobiles with enclosed coachwork by 1897 while the Coupe de ville (or Coup de ville) dates from 1931, describing originally a car with an open driver's position and an enclosed passenger compartment.

The earlier senses (wicker basket, tub, cask) date from 1375–1425, from the Middle English, from the Anglo-French coupe & cope, from the Old French coupe, from the Medieval Latin cōpa (cask), from the Latin cūpa (cask, tub, barrel), the ultimate source of the modern “cup” (both drink vessels and bras).  The Middle English cǒupe was from the Old Saxon kûpa & côpa, from the Old High German chôfa & chuofa, again from the from the Medieval Latin cōpa from the Latin cūpa.  It described variously a large wicker basket; a dosser, a pannier; a basket, pen or enclosure for birds (a coop); a cart or sled equipped with a wicker basket for carrying manure etc; a barrel or cask for holding liquids.  The obvious descendent is the modern coop (chickens etc).  Coupe is a noun; the noun plural is coupes.

Marie Antoinette and the unrelated champagne coupe.

The “coupe” hair-style (always pronounced coop) is one which typically features shorter sides and back with longer hair on top, the modern interpretations making a distinct contrast between the shorter and longer sections, the aim being the creation of sharp lines or acute angles.  The longer hair atop can be styled in various ways (slicked back, textured, or even the messy look of a JBF.  Historically, the coupe hairstyle was associated with men's cuts but of late it’s become popular with women, attracted by the versatility, low maintenance and the adaptability to suit different face shapes, hair types and variegated coloring.  Because outside the profession, there’s no obvious link between “coupe” and hair-styles, the term “undercut” is often used instead.  Unfortunately, despite the often-repeated story, there seems little to support the claim the wide-mouthed, shallow-bowled champagne coupe was modelled on one of Marie Antoinette's (1755–1793; Queen Consort of France 1774-1792) breasts.

Harold Wilson (1916–1995; UK prime minister 1964-1970 & 1974-1976) outside 10 Downing Street with his official car, a Rover 3.5 saloon.

In automobiles, by the 1960s, the English-speaking world had (more or less) agreed a coupe was a two door car with a fixed roof and, if based on a sedan, in some way (a shorter wheelbase or a rakish roof-line) designed put a premium on style over utility.  There were hold-outs among a few UK manufacturers who insisted there were fixed head coupes (FHC) and drop head coupes (DHC), the latter described by most others as convertibles or cabriolets but mostly the term had come to be well-understood.  It was thus a surprise when Rover in 1962 displayed a “four-door coupe”, essentially their 3 Litre sedan with a lower roof-line and a few “sporty” touches such as a tachometer and a full set of gauges.  Powered by a 3.0 litre (183 cubic inch) straight-six, it had been available as a four-door sedan since 1958 and had found a niche in that part of the upper middle-class market which valued smoothness and respectability over the speed and flashiness offered by the rakish Jaguars but, heavy and under-powered by comparison, even its admirers remarked on the lethargy of the thing while noting it was fast enough to over-tax the four-wheel drum brakes.  The engine did however set standards of smoothness which only the Rolls-Royce straight-sixes and the best of the various straight-eights could match but by 1959, both breeds were all but extinct so the Rover, with its by then archaic arrangement using overhead inlet and side-mounted exhaust valves had at least one unmatched virtue to offer.

Rover-BRM Gas-Turbine, Le Mans, 1965.

Although obviously influenced by the then stylish 1955 Chryslers, its conservative lines appealed to a market segment where such a thing was a virtue and reflected Rover’s image although it was a company with a history which included some genuine adventurism, their experimental turbine-engined cars in the early post-war years producing high performance, something made more startling by them being mounted in bodies using the same styling cues as the upright 3 Litre.  The company however discovered that whatever the many advantages, they suffered the same problems that would doom Chrysler’s turbine project, notably their thirst (although turbines do have a wide tolerance of fuel types) and the high costs of manufacturing because of the precision required, something hinted at by the Chrysler’s tachometer reading to 46,000 rpm while the temperature gauge was graduated to 1,700°F (930°C).  While such machinery was manageable on warships or passenger jets, to sell them to general consumers would have been too great a risk for any corporation and neither ever appeared in the showrooms although Chrysler’s research continued until 1979 and Rover co-developed a turbine race car which proved its speed and durability in several outings in the Le Mans 24 hour endurance classic.

Chop top: The Rover 3.5 Coupé (P5B).

For the public however, Rover upgraded the 3 Litre in a way which was less imaginative but highly successful, purchasing from General Motors (GM) the rights to the 3.5 litre (2.15 cubic inch), all-aluminum V8 which Buick, Oldsmobile & Pontiac had all used in their new generation of “compact” cars between 1960-1963.  For a variety of reasons, GM abandoned the project (to their later regret) and Rover embarked on their own development project, modifying the V8 to suit local conditions and the availability of components.  Remarkably, it would remain in production until 2006, used by several manufacturers as well as a legion of private ventures in capacity up to 5.0 litres (305 cubic inch) although megalomaniacs discovered that by using a mix-and-match of off-the-shelf parts, a displacement of 5.2 litres (318 cubic inch) was possible.  Lighter and more powerful than the long-serving straight-six, the V8 transformed the 3 Litre although Rover, with typical English understatement, limited themselves to changing the name to “3.5 Litre”, solving the potential of any confusion when the V8 was offered in the smaller 2000 by calling it the “3500”.

Although the factory never released one, privately some 3.5 Coupés have been converted to two-doors and there are even some cabriolets (ie drop head coupes).

Although the new engine couldn’t match the smoothness of the old, the effortless performance it imparted added to the refinement and fortunately, by the time the V8 was installed, disk brakes had been fitted and transformed by the additional power, it became an establishment favorite, used by prime-ministers and Queen Elizabeth II even long after it had been discontinued.  Even by the time the V8 version was released in 1967, it was in many ways a relic but it managed to offer such a combination of virtues that its appeal for years transcended its vintage aspects.  When the last was produced in 1973, that it was outdated and had for some time been obsolescent was denied by few but even many of them would admit it remained a satisfying drive.  One intriguing part of the tale was why, defying the conventions of the time, the low-roof variation of the four-door was called a coupé (and Rover did use the l'accent aigu (the acute accent: “é”) to ensure the “traditional pronunciation” was imposed although the Americans and others sensibly abandoned the practice).  The rakish lines, including more steeply sloped front and rear glass were much admired although the original vision had been more ambitious still, the original intention being a four-door hardtop with no central pillar.  Strangely, although the Americas and Germans managed this satisfactorily, a solution eluded Rover which had to content themselves with a thinner B-pillar.  

One way or another, windows have troubled the English: (1) the “window tax” imposed on houses during the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries a constant irritant to many, (2) the squircle (in algebraic geometry "a closed quartic curve having properties intermediate between those of a square and a circle") windows used in the early de Havilland Comets found to be a contributing factor in the catastrophic structural airframe failures which doomed the thing and the reason why oval windows are used to this day (mathematicians pointing out the Comet’s original apertures were not “quartic” as some claim on the basis of them being “a square with rounded corners”, the nerds noting “quartic” means “an algebraic equation or function of the fourth degree or a curve describing such an equation or function” and (3) even by the mid 1970s, Jaguar couldn’t quite get right the sealing on the frameless windows used on the lovely “two-door” versions (1975-1978)of the Jaguar & Daimler XJ saloons (which the factory insisted were NOT a coupé, presumably to differentiate them from the long-serving (1975-1995) but considerably less lovely XJ-S (later XJS).

Lindsay Lohan with Porsche Panamera 4S four-door coupe (the factory doesn't use the designation but most others seem to), Los Angeles, 2012.

The etymology of coupe is that it comes from couper (to cut off) but the original use in the context of horse-drawn coaches referred to the platform being shortened, not lowered but others have also been inventive, Cadillac for decades offering the Coupe De Ville (they used also Coupe DeVille) and usually it was built on exactly the same platform as the Sedan De Ville.  So Rover probably felt entitled to cut where they preferred; in their case it was the roof and in the early twentieth century, the four-door coupe became a thing, the debut in 2004 of the Mercedes-Benz CLS influencing other including BMW, Porsche, Volkswagen and Audi.  Whether the moment for the style has passed will be indicated by whether the current model, the last of which will be produced in August 2023, will be replaced.